KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Mobile Crane Association (MMCOA) welcomes the decision by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to extend the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) until June 9.
The association also conveyed their gratitude for allowing construction sectors to operate after Covid-19 screening for all workers. However, the period of waiting for the screening results has caused a slow start for the sector.
MMCOA president Alec Chong Sun Park said the slow start had affected industry players for almost 12 weeks.
"Our members are mainly crane service providers and were not getting any income but still had to handle our fixed costs such as employees' wages, EPF, Socso, income tax and rentals," he said in a statement.
He said that members were struggling in terms of cash flow as there was no incoming funds at the moment.
"We have started to negotiate with our employees in regards to pay cuts due to the company's financial difficulties.
"After the CMCO is lifted and if the economic situation does not improve, some may even have to start laying off, terminate employees or retrench very soon to keep the company in business," he said.
Chong said their income had been halted at the moment and as the mid-stream of the supply chain, they were facing collection problems from customers which led to cash flow constraints.
"Some of our suppliers have even reduced their credit limits and terms. All these factors have made our business tougher to sustain and it is hard to request our customers to speed up the payment process.
"As crane rental services are closely knit with the construction industry, we are also appealing to big construction players to lend a hand to these service providers by paying them sooner.
"We hope the hirers will be considerate on the negotiation of rental rebates during the CMCO period especially with equipment lying idle at construction sites.
"We also hope our suppliers can be more flexible on the credit terms," he said.
MMCOA also urged leasing companies to be considerate in offering a moratorium of six months on repayments like those practised by banks during the Covid-19.
"We will try our best to resolve problems arising within our industry and work closely with our members to weather these tough times," he added.
